By ROBERT GAVIN Staff writer

Published 12:01 am, Wednesday, March 23, 2011

When Detective James Miller, the face and voice of the Albany Police Department, was charged with driving while intoxicated last weekend in a department vehicle, some people assumed it meant the end of his career.

But history shows even the most stunning of drunken driving arrests may not doom the careers of even the highest ranking officials.

"I guess that qualifies you to be President of the United States," Pataki was quoted saying at the time.

He was referring to George W. Bush, weeks away from being inaugurated, who had a prior drunken driving conviction.

Martinez, following his five-year tenure in New York, went on to work for the Bush administration.

In 1997, Assemblywoman Susan John, a Rochester Democrat who chaired the Assembly's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Committee, was charged with DWI while driving on Albany Shaker Road in Colonie. She pleaded guilty to driving while ability impaired, a violation, and kept her seat.

John Sabini was a state senator from Queens when he was charged with driving while intoxicated. He pleaded down to a DWAI violation and became the chair of New York's Racing and Wagering Board.

Former state Sen. John "Randy" Kuhl, a Republican from Hammondsport, had a DWI conviction in 1997 -- and a Congressional-election victory in 2004.

In the Capital Region, 23-year-old John Sweeney had a DWI arrest in 1978. Four years later he became the Stop-DWI coordinator for Rensselaer County. He went to Congress in 1998. He later had two more alcohol-related arrests and is now in recovery and working with Father Peter Young's organization, which helps others recover.

In 2009, Family Court Judge Gerard Maney, who runs a drug court, was charged with DWI and pleaded guilty to DWAI for an arrest on the Green Island Bridge. He kept his job. He was censured by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, but he kept his job. The standard punishment for New York judges convicted of alcohol-related driving offenses -- if no aggravating factors are involved -- is admonishment, the lightest of the three tiers of discipline meted out by the commission. Removal is the most severe outcome.

There are also some cases of drunken driving that cost officials their jobs. Albany County District Attorney David Soares and his Warren County counterpart, Kate Hogan, have both fired prosecutors after a DWI arrest.

Keys to Clifton Park The Clifton Park Town Board acknowledged lawyer Erika Riebel's work as a children's advocate and law guardian March 14 by giving her the key to the town. Sadly, Riebel could not be there to accept the award. Riebel, a breast cancer survivor, died suddenly last summer of an apparent aneurysm. She was 46. At the time, Riebel was in partnership with her father, David. She was chosen by the Saratoga County Republican Committee to run for Family Court judge, a role later filled by Jennifer Jensen-Bergan, who went on to win the seat.

The key to Clifton Park is the town's highest honor for service to the community, said town spokesman J. Jude Hazard. Supervisor Phil Barrett nominated Riebel. Previous honorees include former board member Sanford Roth, longtime volunteer Beverly Czub and "Yellow Ribbon Lady" Carol Hotaling.

Conviction reversed

In February, 2009, a Washington County jury found Jimmy Joe and Kellie St. Andrews guilty of endangering the welfare of a child. Kellie St. Andrews was also convicted of unlawfully dealing with a child. The charges arose from an underage drinking party on the couple's property April 20 and 21, 2008, hosted by their 16-year-old son, Dustin. Prosecutors said the couple allowed the party to go on and that Kellie St. Andrews provided alcohol. Two teenage girls died in a crash that night after they went for a car ride with Dustin St. Andrews.

The Supreme Court, Appellate Division has overturned the charges against Jimmy Joe St. Andrews, ruling that "the conviction was against the weight of the evidence." Supreme Court Justice William McCarthy wrote the two witnesses who said they saw Jimmy Joe St. Andrews outside on the night of the party "did not establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, (his) knowledge or awareness that underage individuals were drinking alcohol."